On July 26, 2026, Rev. Mike Angell, rector of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, preached a sermon titled “Grace in the Margins or The Bible Doesn’t Do Situationships?”. He challenged the traditional Christian understanding of marriage by pointing to Jacob, who married two sisters, Leah and Rachel, both of whom were also his first cousins. Jacob’s household eventually included their servants, Bilhah and Zilpah, who also bore his children.

Angell argued that the Bible presents complicated relationships rather than a simple model of marriage. He emphasized God’s grace toward people living in difficult circumstances and connected that understanding to his support for same-sex marriage.

There is truth in recognizing God’s grace amid human brokenness. Scripture contains many troubled families, and Christians should never overlook the people who suffered within them. But Angell’s argument raises an important question: Does biblical marriage refer to every marriage the Bible records, or to the pattern the Bible teaches?

Those are not the same thing. Scripture records adultery, murder, deception, and idolatry without endorsing them. We must apply the same care when reading its accounts of marriage. The question is whether God established a pattern that remains authoritative despite humanity’s departures from it.

If we want to understand biblical marriage, we must begin where marriage began. In Genesis 1:27, God creates humanity as male and female, both bearing His image. In Genesis 2:18, God declares that it is not good for the man to be alone and provides a suitable companion. The woman shares Adam’s humanity and dignity while being distinct from him as female.

When God brings Eve to Adam, Scripture explains the meaning of their union:

This is more than a description of Adam and Eve. The words “That is why” establish a pattern extending beyond the first couple. A man leaves his parents, joins himself to his wife, and the two become one flesh. This happens before Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Israel, the Law, or the Church. Marriage begins in creation, not in human custom or religious tradition.

The Old Testament contains marriages that depart from this original pattern. Lamech is the first man explicitly identified as having two wives in Genesis 4:19. Later, Sarah gives Hagar to Abraham in an attempt to obtain the promised child, but the arrangement produces jealousy, mistreatment, and division.

Jacob’s marriages to Leah and Rachel bring rivalry between sisters, competition over children, and servants drawn into their family struggles. David takes multiple wives and later commits adultery with Bathsheba. Solomon multiplies wives on an extraordinary scale, and Scripture directly connects those relationships to his spiritual decline. Their accounts appear in Genesis 16, Genesis 29–30, 2 Samuel 11, and 1 Kings 11:1–4.

God nevertheless worked through these imperfect households. Jacob’s sons became the foundation of Israel’s twelve tribes, and God’s promises continued despite human failures. But God’s faithfulness to people living in broken circumstances does not mean He approved every decision they made.

The Bible does not stop after every event to declare whether the behavior was right or wrong. Sometimes the consequences reveal the problem; at other times, later Scripture explains what an earlier account did not. What Scripture describes is not necessarily what Scripture approves.

The same principle applies to laws that regulated practices already present in ancient Israel. A law protecting people within a flawed arrangement does not automatically make that arrangement God’s intended model.

A recent controversy involving LifeWorks Church in the Cleveland, Ohio, area shows why this distinction still matters. On October 25, 2026, Pastor Israel Ford and his wife, Lydia, publicly introduced Minister Shakayla Talley Ford as Israel’s second wife. Lydia described their arrangement as a polygynous marriage—one man married to more than one woman—and called Shakayla her “sister in marriage.”

Israel said he and Shakayla were approaching their third wedding anniversary, suggesting the arrangement had reportedly existed for nearly three years before its public announcement. Shakayla described the relationship as God’s will and emphasized that she was not trying to replace Lydia in church leadership. The legal status of the claimed second marriage has not been independently established.

Ford challenged the teaching that a man should have only one wife, calling that requirement “unbiblical.” He cited Exodus 21:10 as support. But does a biblical law addressing polygamy establish God’s approval of it?

Exodus 21:10 requires a man who takes another wife to continue providing for the first wife’s food, clothing, and marital rights. The passage protects a vulnerable woman within an existing social arrangement. It does not command polygamy or establish it as God’s preferred form of marriage. Similarly, Deuteronomy 21:15–17 establishes inheritance protections when a man has two wives. The purpose is to prevent injustice, not promote plural marriage.

There is also the matter of pastoral qualifications. In 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6, Paul describes church overseers in terms of faithfulness to one wife. Christians differ over whether the original wording primarily emphasizes having one wife or broader marital faithfulness. Either way, these passages do not support pastors taking multiple wives.

Ford’s position should be represented accurately: he argues that requiring monogamy is unbiblical, not that all monogamous marriages are wrong. Nevertheless, his argument must be weighed against the whole of Scripture rather than built around a law addressing one situation in ancient Israel. The public agreement among those involved does not settle the theological question, nor does a leader’s claim of divine approval.

In Matthew 19:3–9, the Pharisees question Jesus about divorce. Rather than begin with Moses’ regulations, Jesus points them back to creation. He reminds them that the Creator made humanity male and female, and that a man leaves his parents to be joined to his wife. The two become one flesh. Jesus then declares:

When the Pharisees ask why Moses commanded a certificate of divorce, Jesus corrects their understanding:

Notice the difference. The Pharisees describe Moses as commanding divorce. Jesus explains that Moses permitted it because of human hardness of heart. A provision in the Law addressed a broken condition without changing what God established at creation.

Jesus knew about Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon. Yet when asked about marriage, He did not treat their households as competing definitions. He returned to the original union of man and woman. The standard is not every arrangement Scripture records, but the pattern established by God and reaffirmed by Christ.

What makes two people married? Sexual intercourse alone does not establish marriage. Joseph and Mary provide a helpful example. In Matthew 1:18–25, Joseph is identified as Mary’s husband and considers divorcing her, even though their relationship has not been consummated.

Their betrothal was legally binding in a way modern engagement generally is not. Nevertheless, the passage demonstrates that a recognized marital commitment involves more than sexual relations. A husband and wife join their lives, establish a household, and accept lasting responsibilities toward one another.

The prophet Malachi describes the Lord as witness between a man and the wife of his youth, calling her his partner and the wife of his marriage covenant (Malachi 2:14). Marriage is therefore more than attraction, shared housing, or sexual intimacy. It is a binding commitment of faithfulness before God.

That covenant has a public dimension. Customs differ across cultures, and Scripture does not require wedding rings, a church ceremony, or a modern American marriage license. Still, marriage establishes a recognizable union, a new household, and responsibilities that extend beyond private feelings. Government did not invent marriage, nor did the Church. Government may regulate and recognize it, but the institution belongs to God’s created order.

Modern culture often approaches marriage mainly in terms of personal happiness and fulfillment. Those things matter, but Scripture gives marriage a broader purpose: companionship, mutual care, faithfulness, and a stable setting in which children can ordinarily be welcomed and raised.

This does not mean every marriage must produce children. Infertility does not make a marriage less real, and elderly couples do not cease to be married when childbearing is no longer possible. Nevertheless, the union of male and female is naturally ordered toward the possibility of new life. Marriage also serves the community by creating lasting bonds of family responsibility and care across generations.

Christians must not make marriage an idol. Jesus never married, and Paul speaks positively about singleness in 1 Corinthians 7:7–8. Marriage is a gift, not a requirement for spiritual maturity. Our deepest identity is in Christ.

Marriage also points beyond this life. In Ephesians 5:31–32, Paul connects the one-flesh union to the relationship between Christ and His Church:

Human marriage is temporary, but Christ’s covenant with His people is eternal. Scripture begins with a marriage in a garden and looks toward the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:7–9. Marriage is not ultimate; Christ is. Yet this greater meaning gives us another reason to honor the form God established.

The question of biblical marriage ultimately becomes a question of authority. Who decides what marriage is: individuals, governments, courts, churches, culture, or God? If marriage is merely a human invention, society can redefine it whenever public attitudes change. Scripture, however, presents marriage as something God established before human institutions existed.

Governments can change legal definitions. Courts can issue rulings, and denominations can revise their teachings. Those decisions may change how marriage is recognized under civil law, but they cannot change what Scripture teaches about its created purpose. Even the Church is responsible for teaching God’s Word, not reshaping it to suit changing cultural expectations.

Angell and Ford approach the subject differently, but both raise the same underlying issue: whether unusual practices recorded or regulated in Scripture can be used to challenge the pattern established at creation. We cannot isolate a single difficult account or law from the wider biblical teaching and allow it to overturn what Jesus affirmed.

Christians must remain faithful to God’s Word even when its teaching is unpopular. But that faithfulness must be demonstrated in both how we live and what we say. We should honor our own marriage vows, care for our spouses and families, support marriages in difficulty, and honor those who are single. We must also show compassion to people hurt by divorce, betrayal, abuse, or sexual sin.

We cannot defend biblical marriage while excusing adultery, neglect, cruelty, or unfaithfulness in our own churches. God’s standards apply to everyone, including those who teach them. When pastors or denominations challenge biblical teaching, we should examine their claims carefully and correct error from Scripture rather than through personal attacks or anger.

Christians must speak the truth, even when it is unpopular. But we must do so with humility and love, never contempt. God's call to repentance applies to everyone, including those who distort Scripture and those who condemn others while ignoring their own sin. We must stand firm on biblical truth, confront error, and point people to the forgiveness and restoration found only in Jesus Christ.

Marriage is not defined by every relationship described in Scripture. Its foundation is the union established in creation, affirmed by Jesus, understood as a covenant, and used by Paul to illustrate Christ’s relationship with His Church.

Biblical marriage is a publicly recognized covenant before God in which one man and one woman commit themselves to an exclusive, faithful, enduring life together, becoming one flesh, forming a new household, and serving God’s purposes.

That definition includes more than male and female. It includes commitment, faithfulness, permanence, mutual responsibility, and accountability to God. We should not avoid difficult Old Testament accounts, but we must understand them within the whole of Scripture.

Biblical marriage means the pattern Scripture teaches, not every marriage Scripture records. Jesus showed us where to begin: at the beginning.

•  The Rev. Mike Angell — “Grace in the Margins or The Bible Doesn’t Do Situationships?” (July 26, 2026) — Original sermon underlying the opening discussion.

•  The Roys Report — “Ohio Pastor Announces Second Wife, Embraces Polygamy” (October 26, 2026) — Reporting on the LifeWorks announcement and Ford’s stated position.

•  ChurchLeaders — “Having Only 1 Wife Is ‘Unbiblical,’ Says Ohio Pastor While Introducing His 2nd Wife” (October 27, 2026) — Additional reporting on the October 25 announcement.

•  Complex — “Pastor Introduces His Second Wife at Sunday Service in Viral Video” (October 27, 2026) — Reporting on the nearly three-year duration and public remarks.